An unidentified individual threw red dye across President Linda Mills’ front door and sidewalk at Lipton Hall on Tuesday afternoon. A video of the perpetrator began circulating on the social platform X shortly after, with a note reading “Linda Mills: Your administration is complicit in genocide. Blood on your hands. Long live Gaza.”

NYU spokesperson John Beckman said the individual, who is “believed to be a male and wearing an N95 type mask,” approached the building at around 3 p.m. and proceeded to splash the dye across its front. Immediately after the act was committed, the individual dropped the container of ink on the sidewalk before running toward Washington Square Park with a videographer with whom they were “acting in concert,” Beckman said. 

“This kind of vandalism is a rarity in our community, and as an act of vandalism, it’s bad enough,” Beckman said in a statement to WSN. “But the implication of blood and violence — and this blatant threat — is absolutely unacceptable; it is far out of line with our campus’ tradition of reasoned discourse and non-violence, even in moments of heightened feelings.”

A New York City Police Department spokesperson confirmed that the unidentified perpetrator “poured red liquid” on the side of Mills’ building and said police are currently investigating the incident. In a universitywide statement Wednesday, Mills wrote that since the events at Gould Plaza last week, she had also received an unspecified “personal threat.”

The act occurred on the fifth day of the second Gaza Solidarity Encampment set up by NYU students and faculty outside of the Paulson Center, which was established after a similar encampment at Gould Plaza was swept by the NYPD, resulting in the arrests of 133 protesters. 

Over the last week, Mills has faced criticism from student and faculty groups, parents and dozens of departmental leaders for her initial statement addressing the encampment, which called protesters’ behavior “disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behavior.” NYU’s board of trustees and faculty representatives in the university senate have voiced continued support for Mills.

“The pain of the past several months has been exacerbated for me by recognizing that, as a community, we haven’t found more productive avenues for discussing the compounding tragedies that have unfolded in the Middle East that have divided us,” Mills wrote. “We need to seek channels for expression that do not include outside groups threatening our community, takeovers, vandalism, disruptions and hateful speech.”

Contact Maisie Zipfel at [email protected].